Candelabrum, Part of a Five Piece Clock Garniture
Decorative Arts and Design
Composed of newly made machine parts, this clock garniture (a set of decorative objects for display) is an overt celebration of the machine and industrialization. Just a generation earlier, political reformers and writers such as Charles Dickens were preoccupied with the negative aspects of the Industrial Revolution, including the blight of polluted, overcrowded cities. By 1885, as the Eiffel Tower rose in Paris, a tamer, less menacing vision of the factory and machine had emerged; industrial design could now function as the emblem of a capital city or—as here—as a collectible for an entrepreneur. If one turns the base of the large candelabra, the cogs engage and the candle holders move up and down.
MANUFACTURER
Andre´ Romain Guilmet, 1827–1892
MEDIUM
Nickel-plated metal
DATES
ca. 1880
DIMENSIONS
17 1/2 x 9 x 9 in. (44.5 x 22.9 x 22.9 cm) (show scale)
MARKINGS
unmarked
COLLECTIONS
Decorative Arts and Design
ACCESSION NUMBER
2009.49.3
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Marcus S. Friedlander, by exchange
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Central column with a single candle holder at top with three short downward flaring rods terminating in small sphere; at midpoint of central column are attached three arms composed of a vertical cog wheel each supports a vertical single candle holder; lower section of column comprises a small globe with port hole style appendages, beneath globe on the flat, circular base are individual, attached, industrial tools such as a compass, protractor and cog wheel, the whole on three protruding raised feet. When inner wheel on base is turned, the cogs on the three arms rotate and the candleholders can raised or lowered, and the single candle holder at the summit rotates as well.
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Andre´ Romain Guilmet (1827–1892). Candelabrum, Part of a Five Piece Clock Garniture, ca. 1880. Nickel-plated metal, 17 1/2 x 9 x 9 in. (44.5 x 22.9 x 22.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Marcus S. Friedlander, by exchange, 2009.49.3. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 2009.49.1-.5_PS6.jpg)
IMAGE
group, 2009.49.1-.5_PS6.jpg.
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
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